Fiber opener

ABSTRACT

A MACHINE FOR OPENING OR GRINDING WASTE OR NEW FIBERS OR THE LIKE IN WHICH THE FIBERS TO BE OPENED ARE FED BETWEEN TWO OPPOSITELY ROTATING FEED ROLLS, WHICH ARE SPRING BIASED TOWARDS EACH OTHER. IF ASBESTOS FIBERS ARE BEING OPENED, THE SURFACES OF THE FEED ROLLS ARE FLUTED, OTHERWISE THE SURFACES OF THE FEED ROLLS HAVE TEETH FOR USE WITH OTHER TYPES OF FIBERS. THE FEED ROLLS SERVE TO HOLD THE FIBERS WHILE MOVING THEM FORWARD TO BE TORN AT AND OPENED BY THE TEETH ON AN OPENING CYLINDER OF THE LICKER-IN TYPE. IN THE CASE WHERE TEETH ARE USED ON THE FEED ROLLS, THE TEETH ON ONE FEED ROLL ACT TO HOLD ONTO THE FIBERS WHILE THE TEETH ON THE OTHER FEED ROLL CLEAN THE SPACES BETWEEN THE TEETH ON THE FIRST FEED ROLL AND THE OPENING CYLINDER PULLS THE FIBERS APART. THE TEETH ON THE OPENING CYLINDER ARE AT AN ANGLE WHICH CAUSES SELFDOFFING TO TAKE PLACE WITHIN ONE REVOLUTION OF THE OPENING CYLINDER. A CUT-OFF BAR IS PROVIDED TO AID REMOVAL OF ANY FIBERS FROM THE OPENING CYLINDER WHICH ARE NOT SELF-DOFFED.

c. s. WISE ETA!- 3,605,196

Sept. 20, 1971 FIBER OPENER Filed 001. 14. 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS 50/4 M55 .54 4003/5 04 4 7 7- ATTORNEYS sq. 20, 1971 5, WISE m1 3,605,196

FIBER OPENER Filed Oct. 14 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet I INVENTORS 6 5cm 5. M55 44 DflV/OFZZ/LLA-TT ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,605,196 FIBER OPENER Cecil S. Wise, Dallas, and David F. Hullett, Belmont,

N.C., assignors to Fiber Controls Corporation, Gastonia, N.C.

Filed Oct. 14, 1968, Ser. No. 786,523 Int. Cl. Dlllg 9/16 US. CI. 19-83 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A machine for opening or grinding waste or new fibers or the like in which the fibers to be opened are fed between two oppositely rotating feed rolls, which are spring biased towards each other. If asbestos fibers are being opened, the surfaces of the feed rolls are fluted, otherwise the surfaces of the feed rolls have teeth for use with other types of fibers. The feed rolls serve to hold the fibers while moving them forward to be torn at and opened by the teeth on an opening cylinder of the licker-in type. In the case where teeth are used on the feed rolls, the teeth on one feed roll act to hold onto the fibers while the teeth on the other feed roll clean the spaces between the teeth on the first feed roll and the opening cylinder pulls the fibers apart. The teeth on the opening cylinder are at an angle which causes selfdofling to take place within one revolution of the opening cylinder. A cut-off bar is provided to aid removal of any fibers from the opening cylinder which are not self-dofled.

This invention relates to machines used for opening entangled fibers, especially natural fibers such as cotton, wool and asbestos, or the like regardless of whether the fibers are waste, i.e., reworkable fibers that have previously been processed to some degree but because of rejection or other reason have been returned useable for reprocessing, or are new (unprocessed or raw) fibers. In particular this invention relates to fiber opening machines which grip and hold the fibers while pulling them apart, thereby opening the fibers so that they do not create in subsequent opening, feeding, weighing or processing equipment, such problems as jamming or wrapping around a dotfer or inaccurate weighings because such subsequent equipment cannot normally open the fibers sufficiently.

Raw cotton fibers or the like or reworkable fibers are frequently tangled, twisted, wadded, stranded, clumped, knotty and the like (herein generally referred to as entangled or unopened fibers or the like). It is therefore necessary to provide equipment which will sever the strands and open the fibers so that subsequent processing may be accomplished which will yield the desired final product. When reworkable fibers are involved, this genenal process is sometimes referred to as waste grinding.

Conventional machinery available for accomplishing the aforementioned opening or waste grinding often includes a licker-in or opening cylinder which tears at and opens the fibers. A major problem in the conventional licker-in type device however has been to provide suitable means for feeding the fibers to be opened to the licker-in. Generally a feed roll and a feed plate or a pair or perhaps three feed rolls of some type are used, but remembering that the purpose for a fiber opener is to prevent unopened or unground fibers from tangling in or wrapping around similar rolls in subsequent processing machinery, it will be understood that this very problem will be presented when one is dealing with feed rolls which must handle unopened fibers.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide for fiber opening or waste grinding apparatus containing 3,605,196 Patented Sept. 20, 1971 ice an opening cylinder for tearing and pulling apart entangled or otherwise unopened fibers which are presented and held therefor by a pair only of feed rolls, which either are fluted and biased toward each other in accordance with one feature of this invention, or in accord ance with another and presently more preferred feature having meshing teeth of respectively different shapes to effect self cleaning and holding of the fibers for the opening cylinder.

Another object of this invention in conjunction with the preceding object is the provision of an opening cylinder or licker-in which will itself doff the opened fibers from its teeth.

Other objects, aspects and features of the invention will become apparent upon referring to the description of the preferred embodiments below and the appended claims in conjunction with the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an end elevational view partially broken away of one embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged partial end view of an opening cylinder used in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic partial end view of an opening cylinder and an alternative feed roll embodiment,

FIG. 4 is an enlarged partial view of the FIG. 3 feed rolls, and

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic top view of the FIG. 3 feed rolls.

In the first preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 1 a generally rectangular cabinet 10 has an opening in its top with two walls 15 angling downward therefrom forming a chute 12. It is into chute 12 that the fibers to be opened or reworkable waste are introduced in any desired way, as manually, by gravity or by conventional pneumatic conveying means. Walls 15 are angled in such a manner that the fibers to be opened are directed into the paths of oppositely rotating feed rolls 13a and 13b which rotate about parallel and coplanar shafts 18a and 18b, respectively. Shafts 18a and 18b are mounted on brackets 14a and 14b, respectively, portions of which are broken away to show the details of feed rolls 13a and 13b. While bracket 14b is rigidly mounted, it will be noted that bracket 14a is mounted on an end of a coil spring 16, the other end of which is rigidly mounted. Spring 16 biases feed roll 13a in the direction of feed roll 13b. The tension of spring 16 may be adjusted by a set screw 17. As is apparent from FIG. 1, the feed rolls in the first preferred embodiment of the invention are biased into surface contact and recessed from the cylindrical surfaces thereof are cut-outs or flutes 19a and 19b, respectively. These flutes may be staggered from one roll to the other as shown, or they may overlap or be directly opposite each other if desired. Preferably, the flutes spiral in unison along the length of the feed rolls, though they may be straight (parallel to shafts 18a and 18b) if desired.

The first preferred embodiment of the invention is particularl useful with asbestos fibers. Such fibers requiring opening are introduced into chute l2, compressed and held by oppositely rotating feed rolls 13a and 13b, while being conveyed thereby downward into the path of, i.e., opened by a large opening cylinder 20, and are torn and pulled apart, teeth 24 of cylinder 20. It has been found when asbestos fibers are being processed that fluted feed rolls serve this purpose best. In those cases Where unusually large clumps of fibers are to be operated on they might not ordinarily pass between feed rolls 13a and 1311, but spring 16 has been provided to allow feed roll 13a to be pushed away from feed roll 13b thereby allowing such clumps to pass through.

Opening cylinder 20 is mounted to rotate upon a shaft 21 immediately below feed rolls 13a and 13b. This is par.-

allel to shafts 18a and 18b and is centrally disposed below and between those shafts so that opening cylinder will rotate in close proximity to and directly below both feed rolls 13a and 13b (for example, there may be approximately 0.020 inch via common radical lines, between opening teeth 24 and the surface of feed rolls 13a and 13b). Teeth 24 are caused to project outwardly about /2 inch in any suitable manner, for example they are mounted on the circumference of opening cylinder 20 by spirally winding a toothed wire in a groove around the cylindrical surface of opening cylinder 20 so that, in the preferred embodiment, teeth 24 are placed circumferentially at five teeth per inch to effect two threads or tooth circles per inch. Teeth 24 allow opening cylinder 20 to operate in the well-known manner of a licker-in when the opening is rotated. That is, feed rolls 13a and 13b convey the fibers downward and hold them in the path of teeth 24. The teeth tear at and open the fibers while pulling them away from the feed rolls.

As illustrated in FIG. 2 teeth 24 on opening cylinder 20 are triangular shaped. The side of the triangle which will first pass a point on the rotational path of opening cylinder 20 is the forward edge of the tooth. On tooth 24 this would be edge 24a. The angle edge 24a forms with the base of the tooth on the circumference of opening cylinder 20 is the forward base angle 240 of tooth 24. A radial line 25 drawn through base angle 240, forms an angle 24d between it and edge 24a of 1. Because this angle is generated by rotating edge 24 from radial line 25 in a direction opposite the direction of rotation of opening cylinder 20, angle may be called a negative angle, and tooth 24 may be said to have a 1 negative rake. By giving teeth 24 a substantially upright forward edge, the ability of opening cylinder 20, by means of its centrifugal force, to self-doff the fibers torn and raked from feed rolls 13a and 13b is significantly enhanced. In the preferred embodiment with teeth 24 made in a configuration as described hereinabove and with opening cylinder 20 having a diameter of 12 inches and operating at a velocity of 1200 r.p.m. self-dotting will occur within /2 to A of a revolution of opening cylinder 20 from the point where fibers are pulled from the feed rolls.

A flat cut-off bar 27 having a pointed edge 27a and mounted at approximately a 45 angle with horizontal is provided to remove from opening cylinder 20 any fibers which are not doffed. Cut-off bar 27 extends the full length of opening cylinder 20, and its pointed edge 27a is placed close enough to teeth 24 so that pointed edge 27 will remove undoffed fibers therefrom without striking teeth 24.

Cut-off bar 27 along with bottom wall 28 forms an output i chute 29. Chute 29 communicates with a further processing means 30 which may be a feeder, condenser screen, separator, distributor, chute feeder, weigher, or any other device which requires opened fibers for further processing. It must be noted that means 30 need not be directly connected to the fiber opener, and a conveyor, such as the well-known pneumatic conveyors, may be used to transport open fibers from the fiber opener to means 30.

FIG. 3 illustrates the second preferred embodiment of the fiber opener of applicants invention. This embodiment is shown only partially and diagrammatically because the only change is in the configuration of feed rolls 32 and 34, which incidentally, need not be biased toward each. It has been found that toothed feed rolls rather than fluted feed rolls are more desirable for feeding fibers other than asbestos, such as cotton or the like. Teeth 35 and 38 may be mounted on feed rolls 32 and 34, respectively, in the same manner as teeth 24 are mounted on opening cylinder 20. That is, the teeth are cut in a wire which is spirally wound around the cylindrical surfaces of feed rolls 32 and 34, preferably in grooves thereon. This is shown in FIG. 5 where toothed wire 42 is Wrapped around feed roll 32 and toothed wire 44 is wrapped around feed roll 34. Teeth 35 are disposed on wire 42 at three teeth per inch and teeth 38 on wire 44 at five teeth per inch, with both wires being wrapped around their respective feed roll at four threads (circles) per inch of roll length. The teeth on both feed rolls protrude from the cylindrical surfaces thereof about inch. As shown by FIG. 5, teeth 35 and 38 are interleaved or longitudinally meshed since wires 42 and 44 are alternately disposed. Such meshing is preferably of the order of of the height of teeth 35 and 38, to effect good roll cleaning and fiber holding.

It is apparent from FIGS. 3 and 4 that teeth 35 and 38 are differently shaped. In the case of teeth 35, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the shape is that of a pyramid. Relative to a radial line 36 drawn from the center of feed roll 32 through apex 350 of a tooth 35, the extensions of sides 35a and 35b form equal angles 37 with radial line 36, and in the case of the preferred embodiment angle 37 has been chosen to be 30. Thus, tooth 35 may be said to be an isosceles triangle.

On the other hand, while teeth 38 of the other feed roll are also triangularly shaped, the shape may be said to be more nearly that of a right triangle. Relative to a radial line 39 drawn through the rear base angle 38b of a tooth 38, an angle 40 created with the more upright side 38a is approximately 10. Angle 40 may be said to be generated by rotating side 38a in a direction opposite the direction of rotation of feed roll 34 from radial line 39. Side 38a is the rear side of tooth 38 with respect to the direction of rotation of feed roll 34.

Although Opening cylinder 20 operates in close P imity to the feed rolls, for example on a common radial line between shaft 21 and either shaft 18a or 18b th outer end of the teeth on feed rolls 32 and 34 is 0.020 inch from the outer end of the teeth on opening cylinder 20, strands of unopened fibers may not be pulled fr m the feed rolls by opening cylinder 20 because they have tended to become wrapped around the feed rolls. This problem is alleviated by shaping and placing the teeth on the feed rolls as described above. The shapes of teeth 35 and 38 are such that these teeth pull in the unopened fibers from chute 12 of FIG. 1 While the backward slope 38a of teeth helps to give a better grip or restraint to the fibers as they are pulled on by the opening cylinder teeth 24. However, the pyramidal shape of teeth 35, which rotate between rows of teeth 38, is such that they help sever the strands of fibers which have become entangled around feed roll 34, thereby making the feed rolls selfcleaning.

Relative to the previously mentioned 12 inch diameter opening cylinder 20 operating at 1200 r.p.m., the feed rolls of this invention are preferably about three inches in diameter and rotatable at any desired speed by a separate variable speed drive (not shown) between 11 and r.p.m., i.e. at about 0.01 to about 0.1 the opening cylinder speed, according to the amount of fiber Opening necessary, the more entanglement the slower the feed roll speed employed.

It is apparent therefore that this invention provides apparatus for opening fibers or grinding fiber waste in which the opening cylinder by its own action doffs the open fibers, and in which the problem of the feed rolls becoming entangled with unopened fibers has been alleviated. Further, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the construction and arrangement of the elements of this invention may be modified within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Fiber opening apparatus comprising:

first chute means for receiving unopened fibers,

a rotatable toothed self-dofiing opening cylinder,

a pair only of oppositely rotatable operatively associated feed rolls disposed between said chute means and opening cylinder for receiving and holding between said feed rolls the said unopened fibers from said chute while conveying those held fibers into the path of said opening cylinder whereby said opening cylinder, when rotating, tears, pulls, opens and doifs said unopened fibers, each of said feed I'Olls bein cylindrically shaped and having spirally wound on its surface a Wire upon which is mounted along th length thereof a series of teeth in a spaced relationship to one another and extending radially from the surface of the feed roll, said teeth on one of said feed rolls being pyramid-shaped with the bases thereof resting on the surface of said roll and with the sides thereof forming equal angles With a radial line through the apex of said pyramid, said teeth on the other of said feed rolls being triangular-shaped with the rear edges thereof, With respect to the direction of rotation of said other feed roll, forming an acute angle in a direction opposite the direction of rotation of said other feed roll with radial lines from th feed roll center of said other feed roll through the rear base angles of said triangular teeth to effect the aforesaid holding of said unopened fibers, and said teeth being placed on said one feed roll and said other feed roll so that rows of said teeth on said one feed roll rotate between rows of said teeth on said other feed roll whereby said pyramid-shaped teeth serve to clean strands of fibers from between said triangular-shaped teeth,

second chute means for receiving and conveying opened fibers dotted from said opening cylinder, and

cut-oif bar means for removing from said opening cylinder and into said second chute means fibers which are not self-dotted by said opening cylinder.

2. An apparatus for opening fibers,

a rotatable toothed, self-doffing cylinder for tearing and pulling at and opening unopened fibers,

a pair only of feed rolls disposed adjacent said cylinder and cooperatively rotatable in opposite directions for feeding unopened fibers to said cylinder,

each of said feed rolls having teeth circumferentially disposed along its length to effect longitudinal alternation and interleaving of the feed roll pair teeth,

the teeth on one roll 34 each having a first configuration which includes a trailing edge inclined backwardly opposite to the direction of rotation of said one roll 34 to aid holding of the unopened fibers while the said cylinder tears, pulls and opens those fibers as aforesaid, and

the teeth on the other roll 32 each having a second configuration substantially in the form of an isoceles triangle which is different from said first configuration and which includes a trailing edge inclined forwardly in the direction of rotation of said other roll 32 for aiding removal of fibers caught by the teeth on said one roll.

3. An apparatus for opening fibers,

a rotatable toothed, self-doffing cylinder for tearing and pulling at and opening unopened fibers,

a pair only of feed rolls disposed adjacent said cylinder and cooperatively rotatable in opposite directions for feeding unopened fibers to said cylinder,

each of said feed rolls having teeth circumferentially disposed along its length to effect longitudinal alternation and interleaving of the feed roll pair teeth,

the teeth on one roll 34 each having a first configuration which includes a trailing edge inclined backwardly opposite to the direction of rotation of said one roll 34 to aid holding of the unopened fibers While the said cylinder tears, pulls and opens those fibers as aforesaid, each such trailing edge of said one roll 34 being inclined in the order of 10 degrees relative to a radial line of said one roll 34, and

the teeth on the other roll 32 each having a second configuration substantially in the form of an isosceles triangle which is different from said first configuration and which includes a trailing edge inclined forwardly in the direction of rotation of said other roll 32 for aiding removal of fibers caught by th teeth on said one roll, said trailing edges of said other roll 32 being inclined forwardly in the order of 30 degrees relative to radial lines of said other roll.

4. Apparatus as in claim 2 or 3 wherein the teeth on said feed rolls are of approximately the same height and longitudinally overlap or mesh with the order of about of said height and wherein the teeth on each of said rolls spiral therearound for the length of the respective roll.

5. Apparatus as in any of the preceding claims 2, 3 or 4 wherein the teeth on said one roll are disposed on the order of 5 teeth per inch,

wherein the teeth on said other roll are disposed in the order of three teeth per inch wherein the teeth of the respective rolls spiral thereabout in the order of four threads per inch wherein the diameters of the feed rolls are substanstantially equal and substantially smaller than the diameter of said opening cylinder, and

wherein said feed roll rotate at substantially the same speed and in the order of about 0.1 to about 0.01 the speed of said opening cylinder.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 288,327 11/1883 Goddard 1996 927,955 7/1909 Dixon 19-97 2,893,064 7/1959 Rusca et al 1997UX 2,911,684 11/1959 Hunter 19203 3,169,664 2/1965 Meinicke 19l OSUX 3,172,165 3/1965 Helm 19203 FOREIGN PATENTS 499,210 1/1939 Great Britain 19-1 14 835,215 5/1960 Great Britain 1996 178,018 6/1966 U.S.S.R 19-202 DORSEY NEWTON, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 19-97 

